“Obviously with three young kids (at home) and we’ve spent some time … at the Children’s Hospital before. The work that they do and everything that they are. … It’s tough days when you’re there. Hopefully you can bring a smile to some of the kids faces. You range from people that are here long-term or short term. But if you can make them forget about things for a little bit, it’s special.”

The Canadiens will play their final home game before Christmas on Tuesday night when the Phoenix Coyotes visit the Bell Centre (7:30 p.m., TSN-HABS, RDS, TSN Radio 690).

“We played 11 games in less than three weeks,” Therrien told reporters after Sunday night’s 2-1 loss to the Florida Panthers at the Bell Centre. “Energy-wise, I could tell they were drained. And when you’re drained, there’s no more juice, physically, you’re tired. When you’re physically tired, your execution is not quite there. You make bad decisions mentally. It goes hand in hand. What we’ve been asking of that group in the last three weeks, it’s really demanding.

“They’re human beings. They’re good athletes, but they give what they’ve got. So tomorrow they’re going to have a day off at the rink. They’re going to go visit the young kids in the hospital and we’re going to regroup for our next game (against Phoenix) Tuesday.”

After Tuesday’s game, the Canadiens visit the St. Louis Blues on Thursday and the Nashville Predators on Saturday before enjoying a one-week break in the schedule. Their first post-Christmas game will be on Saturday, Dec. 28 in Tampa.

Some guys were implying that the players on the team visit the children’s hospitals as a contractual obligation. While that may be somewhat true, it reeks of a backhanded way of saying the players would rather be somewhere else.

Either that, or those posters aren’t lucky enough to have that kind of an impact on sick children.
I wouldn’t put too much faith in a lot of the negatives.
I tip my hat to those players.
Why would they not want to do this?

I disagree…you can trace the Habs offensie woes back to when they started dressing a strictly grinding line…their strength is in their depth..you dress a line of Prust-moen and White and stack one d pair leaving two pairs with no offense and wonder why teh team can’t score? That 4th line can now score..

At some point the team has to decide if the offesne generated by splitting pk/Markov and going with 4 scoring capable lines will outweigh the damage done by splitting pk.Marky…my gut says it will be a positive but my job doesn’t depend on it.

I think MB went out and signed depth…he doesn;t get to play them though. Everything is there….none of the HAbs top lines are going to scare any other teams shutdown line on most nights…however the HAbs are a matchup nightmare if they roll 4 scoring lines and attack in waves….and ideally this also means help fromt he back end for more of the game by splitting pk/Marky. Pleks line can match against a top line…then the oppostion inmost cases chooses who to match their defensive line against and more often than not the HAbs should win the remaining two lines battles.
A hug factor though is the timing of PK?markov shifts…whoever plays with them has a far better chance to score…

Disagree. I would sit D squared. Briere has one less point than DD despite the fact that DD is averaging four more shifts and 3 minutes per game. Let Pacioretty pout if he wants to. Since he will be a father soon, it’s high time that he just man’s up and plays and stops whining about fan criticism.

Parros needs to take a couple of months off, regardless how he feels. Just take time off. Regroup. Come back and stop accepting every goon’s invitation. Fight only when protecting a teammate, otherwise walk away.

Wasn’t dayharnay playing on the 4th line at some point this season and even benched for like 1/2 a period? He scored a couple of points and now we have to suffer for another year before he can bumped off the first line. Habs, as a hockey team, will never win anything unless decisions start being made based on hockey results and not all these other things that seem to be more important than winning.

I agree.
Last night they showed them on the news walking the halls, and Parros went to sit with a little guy…. almost flipped the bed over.
It kind of prioritizes things, doesn’t it?
Our grandson is one healthy little man. So were my kids growing up.
We’re very fortunate. Every time I see these kids, my heart goes out to them.
My wife got her nursing degree, but couldn’t stay in nursing. It was too hard on her morale. Seeing so many sick children (and adults as well).

I always wanted to be a nurse, but that ship has sailed I did however work as a HCA at a nursing home for 5 years..at times it was very difficult. Most were elderly but we did have a few young adults.. I can sort of relate to how your wife felt

Glad to see a 4th with Bourque on it so that line at least has the potential to score…also menas he could play his way up and someone could play their way down. I don;t think there are many 4th lines in the league that have guys like Prust and Bourque on them. I would rather Prust move up ad a center like Birere their but this will do and is an upgrade from what we have seen…wonder who sits? curious to see other lines now….could be good…should be good…no matter how I arrange them assuming White is out the line up looks more solid offensivley.

Twice I have written long posts comparing Galchneyuk to his draft class, the year before him and every number 1 pick since Crosby and they have not got through? …I am not doing it a 3rd time but he stacks up very well….has done better early than either Tavares or stamkos and most of the others..only Nuge and Kane outscored him early and they were on non playoff teams and given prominent scoring roles very early on.

see that is the issue…those other guys played for crappy non competitive teams as most 1st overall calibre players do…Habs just bounced back so quickly it meant lesser role for Galchenyuk….he is still producing though which is very impressive all things considerd. HE is up against limited ice, missing a year for injury, a d oriented system, playing out of position,etc and still producing like those stars at similar points in their careers…the kid is special.

Ahhhh a sample tray.
Geez Luke. You could have said that before getting me going for nothing.
I spend saturday mornings at the Atwater Market (or Jean Talon if I feel like sitting in traffic) and I consider myself a pretty shrewd shopper of fine foods.
But I have never seen that king of pricing.
Well, not in this century anyhow.
And I envy your habit. I have to be careful. If I bought a tray of the sort and my son got wind of it, it would be gone in one foul swoop.

But brie, camembert, pimento pepper jelly and homemade garlic loaf with a few Guinness, and the Habs on TV. Now that’s the good life!

I just watched the above video with PK and he sums up exactly what I was thinking the other night…that 5 on 3…

Here is my post from the last ‘ALN’.

RiverviewCanadien DECEMBER 16, 2013 AT 12:40 PM
The view from my couch the past few game nights has not been very exciting (well the booze is still great and makes things exciting at times, then I realize it’s just the booze). But it really grinds my gears when certain players are given every opportunity to succeed but can’t. When players deserving of those opportunities are cast aside.

For crying out loud when that 5-3 was about to start last night, I kept saying “don’t put out Max and Davie”, sure enough Therrien does just that. I was ripping that Eller and/or Galchenyuk were not on the ice. And to keep Chucky on the bench at the end…mind = blown…

Desharnais and Pacioretty…yes, they are BOTH in a funk, but placing them in situations where they should be succeeding and they are not time and time and time again makes no sense to continue to reward them at this point.

You want those guys to snap out of it…make them work for their ice time. Give those situations and man advantages to Eller, and Chucky and Bournival and Pleks. And Therrien should be using Brière more since Bergervin pays him enough!

Why would Eller deserve starting that PP instead of Max and DD? The latter have done a lot more scoring the past 15 games than eller and just got the OT winner the night before. Eller has 1 Goal and 3 assists in 15 games. What has he done for Therien to put him out there in a situation like that?

Lately Eller has been awful in the offensive zone, he keeps carrying the puck into the Ozone and losing it at the blueline lately. I see nothing wrong with the decision. It actually should be Pleks to start, but I think he had just came off a shift at that point.

losing to panthers on home ice when you need a win.
getting shut out for 60 minutes against the worst defense in the league on long island.
getting shut out by “tired and fatigued” flyers team for 59 minutes losing two one.
hammered 6-0 by kings on home ice.

now after 4 games like that one would think their would be some kind of a change? oh i dont know anything like? 1 goal in 21 games gionta gets taken off pp? ya think. bring up tanarky from hamilton? maybe leblanc. sit brierre?

no. they just need some rest. coach says he wore them out being “very demanding” what exactly is he demanding? cause they aint delivering it. tuned him right out i’m sure.

Scotty G will be trade bait before little Davey, so heres the plan. use him as a fourth line centre with two grinders, hope he wins some draws, and compensate his ego by using him in shootouts. 6 minutes a game max. oh, and teach him how to block shots. he may shine on the fourth enough for some sucker (Flyers) to take him away. thoughts?